Towards a toolkit for Flexible Working

Flexible working is here to stay. Most of us want more of it - but how should we deliver it?

The next MRS Operations Network's meeting: Towards a Toolkit for Flexible Working is on Tuesday 28 January from 6pm. The event is FREE for any Company Partner employees with an interest in Operations and a great way to hear important information and network with other professionals.

We have a fantastic panel of people lined up to share their experiences and approaches to flexible working:  

With the aim to establish a space to support agencies in developing and delivering flexible working, we have gathered a great panel:

Flexible working pioneers: 

Tash Walker, Founder, The Mix. Tash founded qualitative agency The Mix, in 2012. The Mix introduced a 4 day week, working Monday to Thursday, for all staff on full pay, in 2017. As a result the agency have seen a range of benefits, including increased staff wellbeing, reduced sick days and all whilst doubling turnover and seeing an increase in profits.  

Annie Auerbach, Co- Founder, Starling, a cultural insight agency. Annie Auerbach is also an author, her book FLEX: The Modern Woman's Handbook is a revolutionary guide to living and working on your own terms. Annie is proud to be named a 2019 Timewise Power Founder on #timewisepower50 alongside a range of flex working trailblazers who are changing the future of work.

From within the Ops Network, three operations heavy weights: 

Emma Beech, Senior VP Global Operations, Verve. Emma heads up global operations at Verve, covering the teams in Europe and the US. Verve is a full service agency specialising in Agile insight and Community Panels. Emma has stacks of MR operations experience, having spent more than two decades making things run to plan, predominantly in large organisations such as Lightspeed, Research Now, Research International, ORC International and TNS.

Colin Butcher, Head of Data, 2CV. Himself an ‘agile worker’, he fully appreciates the need for a flexible working environment to help all employees manage the evolving demands and pressures of modern life.

Susanne Lindner, Head of Operations EMEA, Lucid. Susanne has been working in the market research industry for more than 10 years. Previously leading teams at Research Now, she moved over to Lucid in 2016 as their employee number one to help build and scale up their European Operations team. 

and to inspire and guide us:

Genene Cooper, Director, Timewise the UK’s flexible working specialist. Run by a team of innovative thinkers and opinion formers, Timewise is on a mission to make flex the new normal and Genene helps lead on vision and strategy.

The panel is chaired by Inger Christensen, who has worked a 4 day week since 2006 and as a recruiter has seen the issue radically increase importance for candidates when making career decisions.

This evening sets out to help agencies. We hope for engagement from the room, sharing challenges and working out how we can best work together in making MR more flexible.

This meeting will be kindly hosted by LUCID, 1 Finsbury Market, EC2A 2BN - conveniently close to Liverpool Street Station.

Please join us for drinks and networking from 6pm. The meeting will start at 6.30pm

These evenings are free to Company Partner Employees, but space is limited so please book your place by emailing company.partners@mrs.org.uk.